An Empirical Study Of Application Of Project-based Learning Approach In Teaching College English Writing

Writing is usually considered as one of the most important skills of the general requirements of the college English syllabus. Recently, the project-based learning (PBL for short), based on the constructivism as its theoretical foundation, has been widely applied in English writing teaching, however, the application of the PBL in college writing teaching in independent college is relatively rare.This thesis firstly provides an overview of the four main writing approaches (product approach, process approach, genre approach and length approach), and then it distinctly analyzes the features, the advantages and the process of the PBL. Through the analysis of the results of the experiment, this study aims to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the application of the PBL in teaching college English writing.The experiment was carried out in Changchun Guanghua College. Four separate classes consisting of150non-English major freshmen participated in this experiment, among which two of them worked as the experimental group at random, who were taught under the guidance of the PBL, and the other two as the control group, who were taken by the traditional teaching method. Through the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the experimental data, this study clearly illustrates that the PBL is an effective and significant way to improve the writing proficiency of non-English major students. It is hoped that this study can facilitate college English writing teaching research and practice, better arouse non-English major students’interests in writing and improve their English writing competence.